Pamban Railway Bridge dismantling begins; locals seek preservation of 111-year-old icon

Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu) [India], January 23 (ANI): The dismantling of the 111-year-old Pamban Railway Bridge has begun, as the people of Rameswaram island have requested that the historic bridge be removed from the sea and placed in a railway museum for the public and tourists to see.
The Pamban Railway Bridge, built in 1914 to connect the island of Rameswaram with the mainland at Mandapam, was the first bridge to be built in the middle of the sea in India.
The special feature of this bridge is that the suspension bridge built between the rails in the middle for ships to pass on was built to be lifted and lowered by human power. It was named after the English engineer Sheshersh, who designed it.
This bridge, which brought immense development to Dhanushkodi and Rameswaram, was damaged in a storm in 1964, renovated and brought back into use.
Since this century-old bridge often had technical problems, it was planned to build a new bridge instead. The foundation stone for the new Pamban railway bridge, built with modern technology, was laid in 2019, and work began in 2020. Unlike the old bridge, this bridge features a vertical drawbridge with an electric hoist to allow ships to pass.
The bridge construction work was completed, and the new Pamban railway bridge was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 6 last year.
With the new Pamban railway bridge in use, the railway administration has decided to remove the old Pamban railway bridge. Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), a central government agency that implements rail infrastructure projects, issued a tender notice last August seeking a contract to remove the old Pamban bridge.
In that announcement, the suspension bridge and girder bridge in the middle of the 2.3 km-long bridge, along with the rails, were removed at a cost of Rs. 2.53 crore.
In this situation, a tender was awarded, and a ground ceremony was held to remove the old Pamban railway bridge. The target is to complete the work in 4 months.
In order to avoid damage while removing the historic Pamban old railway bridge, it has been decided to dig up the old railway bridge in stages, and for this, numbers have been written all over the bridge starting from one in sequence.
Based on that, it has been announced that employees will be involved in the gradual removal of the railway bridge. (ANI)